Charles Anderson Wickliffe (June 8, 1788 – October 31, 1869) was an American politician who was the 11th U.S. postmaster general from 1841 to 1845. He served as the 14th governor of Kentucky from 1839 to 1840 and as a U.S. representative from Kentucky from 1861 to 1863. He also served as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. Though he consistently identified with the Whig Party, he was politically independent, and often had differences of opinion with Whig founder and fellow Kentuckian Henry Clay.

Wickliffe received a strong education in public school and through private tutors. He studied law and was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1812. A vigorous supporter of the War of 1812, he served for a brief time as aide-de-camp to two American generals in the war. In 1823, he was elected to the first of five consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He returned to the state House in 1833, and was elected the tenth lieutenant governor of Kentucky in 1836. Governor James Clark died in office on October 5, 1839, and Wickliffe served as governor for the remaining nine months of Clark's term.

President Tyler appointed Wickliffe as Postmaster General following Wickliffe's term as governor. In 1844, he was stabbed by a man who was later found to be insane. In 1845, President James K. Polk sent Wickliffe on a secret mission to report on British and French intents with regard to annexing Texas and to assess the feasibility of the United States undertaking such an action. Wickliffe's participation in this endeavor further distanced him from the Whigs.

In 1861, Wickliffe was again elected to the U.S. House, serving a single term. He tried to avert the Civil War by serving as a delegate to both the 1861 Peace Conference and the Border States Convention. After war was declared, he sided with the Union cause. In 1863, he again sought the office of governor, but federal military forces interfered with the election, resulting in a landslide victory for Thomas E. Bramlette. Later in life, Wickliffe was crippled in a carriage accident and also went completely blind. He died on October 31, 1869, while visiting his daughter in Maryland.

Early life

Charles Anderson Wickliffe was born June 8, 1788, in a log cabin near Springfield, Kentucky. He was the youngest of the nine children born to Charles and Lydia (Hardin) Wickliffe. His family emigrated to Kentucky from Virginia in 1784.

Wickliffe attained his early education at the local schools of Springfield, then attended Wilson's Academy in Bardstown. In 1809, he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Bardstown. He owned slaves. He and five other prominent lawyers of Bardstown formed a debate club called The Pleiades Club. The club included six members: Wickliffe, John Hays, Ben Chapeze, Benjamin Hardin (another of Wickliffe's cousins), Felix Grundy, and William Pope Duval.

thumb|left|[[Wickland (Bardstown, Kentucky)|Wickland, the home of Wickliffe]]

In 1813, Wickliffe married Margaret Cripps, and the couple had three sons and five daughters. Later, Wickland was called "the home of three governors". On September 2, 1813, he was chosen as aide-de-camp to General Samuel Caldwell and served in this capacity at the October 5, 1813, Battle of the Thames.

First service in the House of Representatives

In 1823, Wickliffe was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served five consecutive terms. Though a Whig, he disagreed with many of the positions of the party's founder, Henry Clay. Of the sixty-nine votes needed to be elected to the seat, Wickliffe received forty-nine. He was elected lieutenant governor of Kentucky in 1836, defeating Democrat Elijah Hise by a margin of just over 1,300 votes. Wickliffe and Tyler were friends, having shared a room when they were both in Congress. While en route, he was stabbed in the chest by a man wielding a claspknife. In 1845, President James K. Polk sent Wickliffe as an envoy on a secret mission to the Republic of Texas. Originally, his purpose was to quash British and French attempts to forestall the U.S. annexation of Texas, but he later joined Commodore Robert F. Stockton in lobbying leaders of the Republic of Texas to order their military forces across the Rio Grande into Mexico. Stockton and Wickliffe believed that if they could provoke a Texan invasion of Mexico, the United States would have a stronger case for annexing Texas. In 1849, he was chosen as a delegate to the state constitutional convention, despite having opposed the calling of such a convention a decade earlier. On May 18, President Lincoln supplied rifles – nicknamed "Lincoln guns" – for the venture. After Braxton Bragg's forces destroyed the railroad trestles near Bardstown, Wickliffe personally hired Joseph Z. Aud to carry the area's mail by private carriage. The trestles were rebuilt in February 1863, precluding the need for Aud's service.

Wickliffe served as a delegate to the 1864 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, casting his vote for George B. McClellan.

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries

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